Custody in Indiana.
The starting point the law actually sets, what the judge has to weigh, and the deadlines that catch people out.
See a different stateIndiana
No. Indiana has no presumption of joint legal custody, no presumption of joint physical custody, and no presumption of equal parenting time. Joint legal custody is evaluated on its own set of factors in Ind. Code § 31-17-2-15 (Ind. Code § 31-14-13-2.3(c) in paternity cases): (1) the fitness and suitability of each of the persons awarded joint custody; (2) whether they are willing and able to communicate and cooperate in advancing the child's welfare; (3) the wishes of the child, with more consideration given if the child is at least fourteen (14) years of age; (4) whether the child has established a close and beneficial relationship with both of them; (5) whether they (A) live in close proximity to each other and (B) plan to continue to do so; and (6) the nature of the physical and emotional environment in each home. The paternity version adds (7) whether there is a pattern of domestic or family violence. Section 31-17-2-15 also directs that "the court shall consider it a matter of primary, but not determinative, importance that the persons awarded joint custody have agreed to an award of joint legal custody." Read that carefully: your agreement carries real weight, but it does not bind the judge. On parenting time, the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines set a minimum schedule and treat shared (roughly equal) parenting in Section IV as "An Alternate Parenting Plan," not as the default.
Use the state’s own words
Indiana uses "legal custody" (decision-making), "physical custody" (where the child lives), and "parenting time" (the schedule for the parent who does not have primary physical custody). Indiana replaced "visitation" with "parenting time" and publishes the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines, adopted effective March 31, 2001 and updated effective January 1, 2022, which supply the default schedule most Indiana orders start from. If your case comes out of a paternity action rather than a divorce, the same words apply but a different chapter of the code governs.
How Indiana decides
Decisions against where the child lives
Indiana separates the two. Legal custody is the authority to determine the child's upbringing, including education, health care, and religious training; Ind. Code § 31-17-2-17(a) confirms that a sole legal custodian holds that authority, which the Court of Appeals applied in 2026 to hold that a father without legal custody "had no authority to comply" with a doctor's therapy recommendation for his child. Physical custody is where the child lives, and the other parent's time is set by a parenting time order, usually built on the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. The two are decided separately and modified under separate standards: joint legal custody is evaluated under the Ind. Code § 31-17-2-15 factors, while physical custody runs on the § 31-17-2-8 factors.
What the judge must weigh
Under Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8 the court "shall consider all relevant factors, including": (1) the age and sex of the child; (2) the wishes of the child's parent or parents; (3) the wishes of the child, with more consideration given to the child's wishes if the child is at least fourteen (14) years of age; (4) the interaction and interrelationship of the child with (A) the child's parent or parents, (B) the child's sibling, and (C) any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interests; (5) the child's adjustment to the child's (A) home, (B) school, and (C) community; (6) the mental and physical health of all individuals involved; and (7) evidence of a pattern of domestic or family violence by either parent. The statute continues with a factor addressing care by a de facto custodian, and Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8.5 supplies the additional de facto custodian factors. The paternity list in Ind. Code § 31-14-13-2 is the same seven items, with "the wishes of the child's parents" and "the child's siblings" phrased in the plural and adjustment to "home, school, and community" run together.
What the child wants
Age fourteen is the number that matters. Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8(3) directs the court to consider "[t]he wishes of the child, with more consideration given to the child's wishes if the child is at least fourteen (14) years of age." The same fourteen-year threshold appears in the joint legal custody factors, Ind. Code § 31-17-2-15(3), and in the paternity versions. Younger children's wishes are still a factor; they simply get less weight. Fourteen does not mean the child decides.
Where there has been violence or abuse
Indiana treats it as a mandatory best-interest factor rather than a presumption. Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8(7) and Ind. Code § 31-14-13-2(7) both require the court to consider "[e]vidence of a pattern of domestic or family violence by either parent." In paternity cases, the joint legal custody factors in Ind. Code § 31-14-13-2.3(c)(7) separately require the court to consider "whether there is a pattern of domestic or family violence." Note the word "pattern" in the statute. A single incident may still be relevant to the child's best interests, but the factor as written points toward a pattern, so if there is a history, document all of it rather than only the most recent event. We could not confirm whether Indiana has any additional statutory presumption tied to domestic violence findings.
The paperwork and the people
Moving away
What you must do before you move
Relocation in Indiana is governed by Ind. Code chapter 31-17-2.2, which the Court of Appeals identified in 2026 as "the relocation statutes." We could not confirm the specific notice period, distance trigger, or filing requirements in that chapter from an official source, so we are not going to guess at the numbers. Before you move, get the current text of chapter 31-17-2.2 from the clerk or an attorney. In Indiana, relocation notice is filed with the court and served on the other parent, and moving without following the statute can cost you.
Later on
Changing the order
Ind. Code § 31-17-2-21 governs modification for children of a marriage: "The court may not modify a child custody order unless: (1) modification is in the best interests of the child; and (2) there is a substantial change in one (1) or more of the factors that the court may consider under [Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8] and, if applicable, [Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8.5]." Both halves are required. Ind. Code § 31-14-13-6 sets the identical two-part test in paternity cases, keyed to the § 31-14-13-2 factors. There is no waiting period, but there is an evidentiary limit that surprises people: Ind. Code § 31-17-2-21(c) provides that "[t]he court shall not hear evidence on a matter occurring before the last custody proceeding between the parties unless the matter relates to a change in the factors relating to the best interests of the child." You generally cannot re-litigate what happened before the last custody order. To change joint legal custody to sole legal custody, Indiana courts require a substantial change in one or more of the § 31-17-2-15 joint-custody factors as well.
If you were never married
Indiana runs never-married parents through an entirely separate chapter. Custody and parenting time for a child born outside a marriage are decided under Ind. Code chapter 31-14-13, following the establishment of paternity, using the § 31-14-13-2 best-interest factors and the § 31-14-13-2.3(c) joint legal custody factors; modification is governed by Ind. Code § 31-14-13-6. Practically, that means an unmarried father must establish paternity before he has a custody or parenting time order to enforce. We could not confirm Indiana's default rule about who holds legal custody before paternity is established, so ask the clerk or an attorney about your rights in that gap.
The number to remember in Indiana is fourteen. At fourteen, the statute tells the judge to give the child's wishes more consideration, in both physical custody and joint legal custody decisions. It is still not the child's decision, but it changes the conversation. The second thing that catches parents off guard is that Indiana does NOT presume joint custody or equal parenting time. The Parenting Time Guidelines set a floor for the parent with less time, and roughly equal "shared parenting" is expressly framed as an alternate plan, not the starting point. Third, if you are heading back to court to change custody, know that Ind. Code § 31-17-2-21(c) generally shuts the door on evidence about things that happened before the last custody order. Judges in Indiana will stop you from re-arguing the last case.
What we could not confirm
- Indiana's official code website requires JavaScript to display statute text, and its data service requires an API key we do not have, so we confirmed Indiana's statutes by reading published Indiana Court of Appeals opinions on the state judiciary's own website, which quote the statutes word for word. That worked well for the best-interest factors, the joint legal custody factors, the child's-preference age, and the modification standard. It did not give us Indiana's relocation details (notice period and distance trigger under Ind. Code chapter 31-17-2.2), whether a written parenting plan must be filed, the authority and cost rules for custody evaluations or guardians ad litem, whether mediation is required before a contested hearing, or the default custody rule for unmarried parents before paternity is established. Ask your county clerk's office for the current text of those chapters and for your county's local family law rules, which in Indiana often set the mediation requirement.
- 2 official pages we tried to read refused automated access. We did not try to get around that, so some detail above was read from a different official source — a published court opinion quoting the statute, or the court’s own forms and instructions.
Compare all fifty states
Where 50/50 really is the default, and the twenty-six states where nothing is presumed.
And the money side
How Indiana calculates child support, and the overnight number that changes it.
The rest of what we have written about Indiana. Every figure is quoted from Indiana’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.